corporis quam pro asperitate aeris ibidem existentis ad
Melrosense rediit cenobium, ibique suo cessit officio
nec multo post in prioratu
restitutus, fideliter migrauit ad Dominum. Factus est autem abbas de Der, Robertus
eiusdem domus monachus.
Eodem anno Dominica prima ante festum beate Marie Magdalene
dominus rex collecto exercitu suo, Galwe
yiam intrauit. ⁊ usque
ad locum satis uisu pulcrum deuenit2 in quo inclinato iam die figere tentoria
propo
suit. Sed Galweienses3 situm loci melius agnoscentes qui per totum diem in montibus
latitauerant nunc e contrario pre
lium regi inferebant. Supradictus siquidem locus
non minimam eis fiduciam prestiterat. Erat enim repletus paludi
bus desuper herba ⁊
floribus undique coopertus,4 in
quibus supradicti regis exercitus pro maiori parte erat dimer
sus. In principio
autem certaminis superuenit comes Rosensis nomine, Makinsagart, ⁊ hostes a tergo
inua
debat. Quod postquam ab hostibus compertum est, terga uertentes, montes,
siluasque petierunt, quos supradictus
comes, necnon ⁊ alii multi insequebantur
stragem non minimam facientes ⁊ usque ad crepusculum lasce
rantes. Postera autem
die, rex solita utens pietate pacem ad se omnibus uenientibus tribuit. Gal
w\e/ienses igitur qui remanserant funibus in collo missis ad regis
pacem conuenerunt. Supradictus tamen T’
bastardus cum suo fautore Gilrodh, uersus
Hyberniam iter arripuit. Rex igitur potitus uictoria ob
ardua regni
negotia5 alias
regni adiuit partes, ibi ad sedandam patriam comitem de
Manetheth dim\it/tens. Post discessum uero regis quidam Scoti non magistri
militie, sed ministri ma
litie abbatias eiusdem terre tam nefaria, ⁊
celerata6 dementia
expoliauerunt, ut etiam monachum in infirmito
rio de Glenlus in extremis positum ⁊
cilitio superpositum pannis quibus indutus erat denudarent
⁊ secum asportarent.
Apud etiam Tungland priorem cum sacrista in ecclesia interfecerunt, quorum peccata
Omnipotenc7
inulta transire non permisit. Non multum enim post \h/omicida8 ille
deprehensus, apud Rokesburch ab
equis est discerptus. Scoti uero audientes
supradictum G’ de Hybernia cum classe aduenisse
⁊ secum Hybernienses cum filio
cuiusdam reguli adduxisse dum immoderate fugerent ad quandam \aquam/
deuenerunt in qua multi ex illo nefando exercitu perierunt. Postquam autem
supradictus G’ de
Hybernia est reuersus mox ut terram tetigit omnes naues pariter
confregit, huiusmodi utens cal\l/idi
tate, ne quos secum
conduxerat ullomodo ualerent repatriare. Postquam ergo hec nunciata sunt
G’
episcopo Gal\v/uydie, ⁊ A’ abbati de Melros, necnon ⁊ P’ comiti
de Dunbar amicitiam
quam erga patrem habuerunt uiuentem,9 filio quamuis degeneranti impendere non omiserunt.
Episcopus
autem ⁊ abbas simpliciter comes uero cum suo exercitu usque ad terminos
Galuidie deuenerunt mandan
tes sepe dicto G’ ut aut regi colla submitteret aut cum
exercitu comitis prelium committeret. Cernens
igitur sepedictus G’ se inferiorem
uiribus esse eorum consilio adquieuit, quem rex ad custodiendum per aliquod tempus
predicto comiti
tradidit. Bastardus ergo consilio destitutus ⁊ auxilio regis
pacem coactus est petere, quem rex paruo tempore in Castel
lo Puellarum detinuit, ac
postea abire permisit. Post hec Hybernienses furtiue de patria discedentes
iuxta
ciuitatem Glasguensem iter arrip\uer/unt, quod ciues comperientes
unanimiter exierunt ⁊ quotquot reppere
of body as from the harshness of the climate in that place,
returned to the monastery of Melrose. There he resigned his office not long afterwards,
and restored as prior [of Melrose], faithfully departed to the Lord. Robert, a monk of
the same house, was then made abbot of Deer.
In the same year, on the Sunday before
feast of the blessed Mary Magdalene, the lord king mustered his army and marched them
into Galloway. He reached a place sufficiently fair to behold,1 and since the daylight had already waned, he planned to pitch camp
there. But the Galwegians, who had lain hidden in the hills the whole day, knowing the
locality better, now turned the tables and took the battle to the king. Since the place
mentioned above had given them a certain amount of confidence, for it was full of
marshes covered all over with grass and flowers, in which the king’s army (mentioned
above) was for the most part bogged down. At the outset of the engagement, however, the
earl of Ross, Maccintsacairt by name, arrived and attacked the enemy from the rear.
After this was realised by the enemy, they turned their backs and repaired to the hills
and the woods. The earl (mentioned above), together with many others, pursued them,
producing much slaughter and hounding them until nightfall. The following day, however,
the king employed his accustomed mercy and bestowed his peace upon all who came to him.
The Galwegians who had survived therefore came together to the king’s peace, being
brought out with cords around their necks. T[homas], the bastard-son mentioned above,
meanwhile set off for Ireland with his supporter Gilrodh. The king, having gained the
victory, therefore went to other parts of the kingdom on difficult matters of the realm,
leaving the earl of Menteith behind there to subdue the country. After the king’s
departure, some Scotsmen, not masters of the military but ministers of malice, plundered
the abbeys of that land with such heinous and infamous madness that they even stripped a
monk laid in the infirmary of Glenluce at the point of death of the hair-shirt in which
he was clothed, and carried it off with them. At Tongland, too, they murdered the prior
and the sacrist inside the church. The Almighty did not allow their sins to pass
unpunished. Not long afterwards, the murderer was caught, and was torn in pieces by
horses at Roxburgh. When they heard that G[ilrodh] (mentioned above) had come with a
fleet from Ireland, bringing Irishmen and the son of a minor king with him, making their
unbridled flight, the Scotsmen reached a certain \river/, in
which many of that abominable host perished. After G[ilrodh] (mentioned above) had
returned from Ireland, and as soon as he set foot on land, he destroyed all his ships
alike, using cunning of this kind lest those whom he had brought with him should by any
means be able to return to their own country. After these matters had been reported to
G[ilbert] the bishop of Galloway and A[dam] the abbot of Melrose, and also to P[atrick]
the earl of Dunbar, they did not fail to afford to the son, though illegitimate, the
friendship they had towards his father while he was alive. The bishop and abbot went on
their own, the earl with his army, as far as the borders of Galloway, enjoining the
oft-mentioned G[ilrodh] either to bow his neck to the king or meet the earl’s army in
battle. The oft-mentioned G[ilrodh], seeing that his force was weaker, went along with
their advice, and the king handed him over for some time to the aforesaid earl for
safekeeping. The bastard son, therefore robbed of advice and support, was compelled to
seek the king’s peace; and the king held him for a short time at Maidens’
Castle,2 and afterwards allowed him to go
away. After these events, the Irishmen, in leaving the country by stealth, made their
journey via the city of Glasgow. When they learned this, the citizens went out as one,
and cutting off